Flood
by WinterVines
Summary: AU. The worst part was that he was dry. That bastard. SasuSaku.


Hi

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Flood

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Sakura knew it was a bad omen when she came down the stairs from her lecture hall to see a few dozen students crowding around the doors.

Tsunade had gone slightly over time with Psych, and even though Sakura wanted to get home and work on her next paper as soon as possible, her feet slowed. Her boots clacked as she stepped out onto the tile of the entryway and then rose up on tip-toe as she tried to see over the tops of her peers.

She huffed and rubbed the back of her pink-haired head, readjusting the pack slung over her shoulder. That was one of the downsides to being short—she couldn't see anything. A distant rumble shook the building, and in response, the lights flickered. That wasn't a good sign.

Sakura gnawed her bottom lip as she wormed her way between students, gently pushing them aside if they wouldn't respond to her 'excuse me's. She was greeted with a downpour.

The steady thrumming didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon, despite the mob hovering until the opportune moment to make a dash for it. The girl didn't bother to stifle a groan as she watched the rain pelt the sidewalk. Sakura's car was in the furthest lot. She took a moment to lament her misplaced umbrella.

A smarter person would've waited it out, but Sakura had work to do. If the newscast on the television in the corner was correct, the rain wouldn't let up 'til late tonight. All of her materials were at home, and she had class tomorrow.

She sighed, and the air flew upward to make pink locks dance. With a stubborn set to her jaw, she flipped up the hood on her red sweatshirt and slid her bag to the side so it wouldn't bounce awkwardly off her hip. Then, she shoved the door open and stepped out into the monsoon.

Sakura couldn't help flinching as soon as she lost the protective cover of the overhang. Water thudded against her coat, and she hunched in on herself as she buried her hands in her pockets.

It wasn't that she hated the rain. She remembered many days of splashing through puddles with Ino, looking for rainbows in their yellow coats and boots. The gentle sprinkle of back then was much different than the silver dollar sized splatters engulfing her now.

She was soaked in less than a minute. She felt the water seep through her coverings and made a face at the feel. An umbrella probably wouldn't have helped even if she knew where it was. It wasn't even a cold rain, since August had yet to burn out. The mild drought they had all summer was choosing to make up for the lack of precipitation now.

Sakura clutched the keys in her pocket tightly, hoping the fob still worked when she reached her car. Her sleeves were stained dark red from the water, and she could feel her long pink hair tangling where it was exposed from her hood. Brushing it out wasn't going to be fun.

All she wanted was a cup of hot chocolate and a few minutes of peace to get her work done—not feel like a drowned rat for the rest of the night. She had a lot of things to do and not enough time to do them. The girl narrowed her eyes at the sky, shaking an invisible fist at the gray mass of clouds. She had a few choice things to say too, but people were watching.

She pressed on, but her steps were heavy. The bottoms of her jeans were soaked through, and she could see where the water lapped over her boots. Some of the puddles completely engulfed her foot. She was suddenly glad that she hadn't worn those red, sparkly flats that Ino suggested. Cute they were. Rainproof they were not. Her current selection wasn't much better off anyway. She could feel the squishy mush when she wiggled her toes.

Sakura heaved a sigh and resigned herself to the trek, splashing heavily when a puddle almost veered her off into the ditch instead of the sidewalk. Parking had been awful all week, and this was day four out of five. Her boots were not made for walking long distances, and she felt the dull throb with every heavy step she took. They were screaming "get off of us, you jerk!"

It was all the rain's fault, she decided, nodding and grimacing when the hood pulled at her sopping hair. She wouldn't be having a bad day if the weather had just—

Then, lightning streaked out, and the sky rumbled nosily as it darkened. The storm was closer. The loud crash made her stumble, and her skin started to prickle. Sakura's breathing sped up.

"No, no, no," she called in mantra, picking up her pace and sloshing toward her car even quicker.

After another five minutes, she heaved a grateful sigh as she saw the dented fender of her old, green Subaru. She hit unlock on the fob, wrenched open the door, and scrambled inside, tossing her bag onto the passenger seat. Her back barely brushed the seat before she was leaning forward, peeling off her drenched hoodie and slamming the door.

She bunched up the dripping garment and threw it on the floor, rubbing the water off her bare arms. Her tank top was marginally drier. Sakura tried not to touch her jeans, ignoring the material she was going to have to peel off her legs later. She'd have to suffer the drive home. At least her butt was dry.

For a second she sat in silence, listening to the tinny drumming on the roof. Only few others braved the torrent to run to their cars. She leaned her head against the steering wheel and closed her eyes for a moment before groaning.

She dumped her bag onto the floor in the back when she noticed it was making a wet spot on the seat. Hopefully her books weren't ruined. One of them was a rental. She was too scared to check just yet.

The car stuttered but eventually started as Sakura prayed, and she let out a sigh of relief. She counted to ten before she trusted her wheels to keep running, and then she buckled her seatbelt. The lights were flicked on and the radio turned to low as she put the car in gear. She subconsciously scooted closer to the wheel as she tried to see out her rapidly fogging windshield.

As she turned to look behind as she backed out of her spot, her hair stuck to her neck, plastered there with rain and now sweat from the muggy car. She didn't even have working air conditioning to chase it away. The drive home was probably going to be torture. If traffic wasn't too bad, it would probably take her fifteen to twenty minutes to get back to her apartment. That was twenty minutes longer than she wanted to be in these clothes.

She pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street with no problems, driving as carefully as she could. The radio fizzed and the buzzed with that steady alert beep as a warning was broadcasted. Her area was now under a flash flood warning until about nine tonight. Apparently, some areas may already be flooded.

"You think?" she told the speakers as her car bounced through a deep puddle, kicking up a spray that splattered onto the car in the other lane.

She got out of the tricky downtown area in a crawl, humming along to the radio softly as she kept her eyes peeled. Her feet were heavy from rain on the pedals, so she slowed down to make up for lost reaction time. Other drivers didn't seem to have that problem as they whizzed by, almost like it wasn't even raining.

Sakura glared at them as they passed. If she could see further than a few feet, she might've caught their license plates and reported them. Surely they weren't driving an acceptable speed for the weather conditions. They were probably dry too, those jerks. She grumbled.

In the middle of an upbeat song she was silently singing, the radio turned to static and lost the signal. With a sigh, she pushed the nob in to turn the noise off. "I wish I could see," she muttered, peering through the wipers that were on full blast. It didn't help much.

Thunder rumbled again, booming over the drone of the rain. With a flash, a bolt of lightning streaked, and the entire street lit up until it faded, giving Sakura a clear view for a few seconds.

"Well why didn't you say so?" a smooth voice said from beside her.

"Kiyah!"

The car swerved as she screamed, veering off into the oncoming lane before it was roughly jerked back by no conscious act on her part. Horns blasted as she sailed into the correct lane seconds before a semi-truck breezed past, splattering rain against her window in a staccato of pellets. Sakura's heart sped, and her pulse hammered in her throat, dulling every other noise to a dull roar.

Her knuckles bleached as she gripped the wheel, getting the car under control once more. That didn't stop the steady shaking down her arms or fix her wide green eyes.

"You should watch the road. I'll survive a car crash, but you might not," the voice said again.

Sakura glared into the passenger seat briefly before her eyes flashed back to her driving. She knew the rain meant nothing good. Attention focused mostly on the road, her withering look was ignored.

"Don't you have anything better to do than jump-scare busy college girls, Sasuke?" she ground out.

The man smirked. His neat, blue dress shirt was unbuttoned, and the arms were rolled up to show off pale skin. A dark tank top melted into matching jeans that sat in just the right way. He caught her looking and raised an eyebrow, the infuriating look on his face never leaving. She wanted to slap it off his face and mess up that stupid dark hair with the duck tail too.

The worst part was that he was _dry._ That bastard.

"It's nice to see you again too, Sakura," he purred, lightning dancing between his fingertips as he pretended to pick off a piece of fuzz from his shirt. She was pretty sure that thunder demons didn't gather lint.

He reached out to poke her soggy jeans with that awful smirk, and she slapped his hand away, feeling a slight jolt of static electricity. "Put your seatbelt on," she snapped in reflex, shaking her fingers.

In response, he disappeared as she blinked. Her brow furrowed until his voice whispered into her ear from behind. "But why, Sa-ku-ra?"

She squealed as he touched her neck, and the sensation of cold fingertips sent shivers down her spine. It effectively halted any retort she may have come up with. He leaned forward enough to put his chin on her seat, making him perfectly visible in the rearview mirror.

"Don't touch me," she growled, but she didn't swipe his hands away this time. They were glued to the steering wheel.

Sakura kept her eyes straight ahead no matter how tempting it was to look at him. He made her blood boil in more ways than one. It was hard to blame her—he was pretty attractive. That didn't make her blush any easier to handle. If she had had better control over it, she might not have been in this mess.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"You know," Sasuke answered, blowing on her ear. She shivered again and glared into the mirror. He was smirking again. "There's a lot I could ask you to do," he continued, running his fingers down her neck and over her shoulder. She tensed. "But I won't."

He stared at her for a minute as goose bumps erupted over her skin. She avoided his gaze in the mirror and focused on her driving, mentally cursing the idiots on the street. She so did not want to deal with both of them at the same time.

"I'm calling in my favors," Sasuke said after a minute, curling a piece of her tangled hair between his fingers. "How is that boyfriend of yours?"

Sakura's hands tightened and creaked against the wheel. When she had met Sasuke at that party, she had had a pretty normal life with a pretty normal boyfriend. He had been in a bit of a tough spot, and unfortunately, being the caring girlfriend that she had been, she had made a couple of deals with the demon before she knew what he really was. A favor for a favor. It worked out well for a while. That was, until her boyfriend went and cheated on her.

But she wasn't going to give Sasuke the satisfaction.

"It's none of your business."

The demon shrugged, making the motion seem effortless and graceful as his hair touched his _dry_ shoulder. He continued to play with her hair, but she saw that cocky look hidden behind his hands.

"What do I have to do?" she asked.

His lips quirked, and he released the pink strands to lean back. "Don't worry about that just yet. We'll talk after dinner," he said, indicating he was coming home with her. Sakura was not pleased.

In the mirror, she saw him stretch onto the seat, his head propped up by an elbow and one knee bent as he lounged across it. A crackling coin made of electricity appeared in his free hand, and he casually passed it up and down his fingers as he watched her.

"Oh, and Sakura? I like tomatoes."

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I don't really know what this is. Rain was a thing that happened.


End file.
